Romantic Florence Wedding

— Cannelle & Yvonnick

Date

Guests

Photographer

On a clear day high in the hills of Tuscany, a
setting overlooking all of Florence, this beautiful couple (a
blend of Tahitian and Italian heritage) exchanged vows in front
amidst an intimate gathering of family and friends. A timeless,
romantic celebration suffused with organic details drawn from the
surrounding countryside. A tumble of cascading roses and hundreds
of cream candles, hand penned maps and sensory favours inspired by
Florence itself, a natural colour palette, an outdoor dance
floor…each moment of intimacy, revelry and euphoric abandon
captured with the inimitable eye and signature candid elegance of
Lelia
Scarfiotti's lens.

HOW WE MET: We met 13 years ago, his best friend was
looking for the female lead for his short film and he chose me. My
husband played the male lead. We went our separate ways and
reconnected and started dating 5 years later.

OUR ENGAGEMENT STORY: I was coming back from a week in
Paris, he came to pick me up at the airport and when I open the
door of our home he had put lanterns and candles everywhere with
about 40 pictures of us since we started dating, he went down on
one knee and asked me to marry him. It was perfect, intimate,
romantic and so us.

MARRIAGE TO US MEANS: In our 7 years together we spent
many years doing a long distance relationship so marriage to us
means finally being together, having a partner to share your dreams
and hopes with. We committed our life to each other, and chose to
face whatever life throws at us together, as a team.

WEDDING
LOCATION: I had a
dream since I was a child to get married in Italy (my dad being
half Italian and extremely attached to this country) when we got
engaged I knew it had to be in Italy, my husband loved the idea and
we chose Florence (since it was where I finished my college degree
and he came to visit me many times). We wanted the location to be
close to Florence since people were already traveling from so far
away to be with us we didn’t want our guests to have to rent
a car on top of it. We went to have our tasting at Villa Il
Garofalo 10 minutes from the center of Florence and as soon as
we came in, it had a beautiful garden and the most spectacular view
of Florence we knew it was where we would get married.

THEME/STYLE:
We wanted the style of the wedding to be elegant, romantic and
Tuscan inspired.

PHOTOGRAPHY:Lelia Scarfiotti photographed our wedding. I
really wanted romantic pictures that were in the moment. I did a
lot of research online and I immediately fell in love with her
pictures. She also shot my boudoir session and our engagement
pictures (which I highly recommend doing a few months before the
wedding). We could not be happier with the way the pictures turned
out. They are so organic; you can really feel the emotions of the
day when you look at them. On top of it she is an absolute joy to
be around and I now consider her a friend.

(interview continued under gallery)

BRIDE’S
DRESS: I am not the
biggest fan of traditional wedding dresses and I tried on quite a
few before finding mine. I initially came across Berta Bridal on
Instagram and I saw my dress, it had everything I
wanted: lace, cap sleeves and an open back. As soon as I tried it I
fell so confortable in it, it was so me.

BRIDE'S
SHOES:I tried
a lot of different brands I knew I wanted open nude shoes,
comfortable enough to dance all night. I found them at Tory Burch; they
have a pink, nude color with a strap around the ankle.

BRIDESMAIDS
DRESSES:I did not want my bridesmaids to wear
the exact same dress but I still wanted some cohesion in the look
so we chose the Annabelle dress from Jenny Yoo (you can
tie it in many different ways) in 2 different colors (mink grey and
cashmere). They all wore it differently.

WEDDING
RINGS:My wedding band is a diamond band that
was custom made by the same jeweler who designed my engagement
ring, which is a round diamond with a double halo. My husband
wedding band is the love ring from Cartier in white gold.

JEWELLERY/ACCESSORIES: I
wore a diamond bracelet as my something borrowed from my mom, a
blue ring that belonged to my grandmother on my right hand. My
parents designed my earrings; they were long with white pearls that
matched my dress. Tahizea

GROOMSMEN
ATTIRE: My husband wore a black three piece-suit that
we had made in Florence with a custom shirt (that matched my dress
color) custom made in Los Angeles with a black bow tie. All the
groomsmen wore black suit of their choosing with white shirts and
black ties.

HAIR: & MAKEUP:: Both
by Giulia Cresci, I wore my hair wavy and half-up
with a hairpiece in the back. I wanted my make-up to be very
natural looking with a little more emphasis on the eye. I wore
black eyeliner with natural eye shadows.

STATIONERY/INVITATIONS:
For our save the date we did a video of us around town doing what
we love to do. It was cute and funny and a big hit with our friends
and family. For the stationery I used a
calligraphist, Four Things and we worked together many
months to produce the invitations, thank you cards, menu, place
cards, welcome cards etc.… Our inspiration was gold, olive
branch, Tuscany and nature. We also had a monogram.

FAVORS/BONBONNIERE:Instead
of a gift at the reception we decided to put welcome bags inside
guests’ hotel rooms. We made tote bags with our monogram on
it and inside the bags we put little olive oil, Italian snacks,
water, welcome and thank you cards, a map of Florence and a book
with what to do in Florence.

FLOWERS
& BOUQUETS:When we got engaged I knew I
wanted to use La Rosa Canina as our florist. I am so in
awe of his style and absolutely love everything he does. We
exchanged Pinterest boards and I told him I wanted
neutral color with an elegant/organic feel to it and candles. He
went above and beyond my wildest dreams. For the ceremony he put
olive branches behind the chairs with ribbons. At the end of the
aisle it was a mix of candles and wild flowers of different sizes.
The reception was so romantic with candles everywhere and different
sizes centerpieces.

VIDEOGRAPHY:For
us photography and videography were extremely important because at
the end of it all, you are left with memories and even though
videography are not as popular as photography it is the only way
you can relive the moment. I fell in love with Elysium
Production’s style of video. They are so romantic and
authentic. Julie is such an amazing person and you could never tell
she was there.

PREPARATION: The morning of the wedding I had breakfast
at the hotel and I spent some time relaxing in my room with some
friends and I wrote my parents, husband and bridesmaids cards. Then
I got ready in a room at the hotel where we were staying. We drank
champagne and I gave my bridesmaids their gifts (a silk and lace
robe with a card that matched our invitation).

CEREMONY
DÉCOR/ RECEPTION DÉCOR: For the ceremony
we wanted the décor to compliment the beauty of the
location. The reception had a very romantic feel to it with a lot
of candles. We were in this beautiful villa with these gorgeous
Italian paintings on the wall but it felt so intimate and it was
exactly what we wanted. After dinner we went outside for speeches
and cake cutting and during that time the catering company removed
everything and turned the reception room into a lounge with sofas,
mini deserts and party lightings.

WEDDING
PLANNER/ WEDDING STYLIST:Raffaella Alflatt
from Wed In Italy and her team planned the wedding. I could
have never done it without them. We spent countless hours on Skype
and exchanged hundreds of emails. It was so reassuring to have
them, especially when planning a destination wedding. During our 3
days celebration, they made sure everything was running smoothly
and I did not worry about a thing. They were truly
exceptional.

CAKE:We
had a traditional Italian cake (millefoglie) with vanilla cream
inside and chocolate chips, made by Guidi Lenci

WEDDING SONGS: At the ceremony we had a violinist
playing. One of my friends is a singer and she sang and played one
of her song on the guitar as I walked down the aisle. Our first
dance was “A thousand year” by Christina Perri and our
father/daughter dance was “Imagine” by John
Lennon.

ENTERTAINMENT:We
had a violinist, saxophonist and singer that played during the
cocktail hour and the dinner. They were really incredible and made
quite the impression. We were not supposed to dance during dinner
and everyone was on standing up dancing. After dinner we had a DJ.
The saxophonist and violinist did play at the beginning of the
party as well.

FOOD
& BEVERAGES: During cocktail hour we had a
champagne bar and finger foods. During dinner we had antipasto,
3-courses along with white wine, red wine and prosecco served.
After dinner we had coffee and an open bar.

TRANSPORT: We had shuttles organized for all the guests.
My bridesmaids and I got to the villa in a mini van.

GIFT REGISTRY: Having been together for 7 years we did
not need anything so instead of a traditional wedding registry we
had a gift box at the reception acting as a honeymoon
fund.

CELEBRANT:Our
celebrant was Jo Bertolino from Tuscan
Pledges. She did an amazing job customizing the ceremony
to us. The ceremony was in both French and English.

READINGS: We wrote our own vows. During the
ceremony we had 2 readings: my sister and my husband’s sister
read a poem that a very close family friend who is a writer wrote
for us and our 2 nieces and nephew read an extract from “The
little Prince”.

ANY OTHER SPECIAL DETAILS: We had a photo booth during
the party and it was a big hit among the guests. People had so much
fun using it with the props. All the pictures were then put in a
book with notes from everyone. We are both from Tahiti and we
wanted to have Tahiti incorporated in some ways so during the
ceremony we had both our moms say a few words and wrap us in a
handmade Tahitian bed cover. It is a sign of benediction used
during traditional Polynesian’s weddings. Our friends and
family planned a few surprises. They wrote a song for us that they
sang after we cut the cake. They did a flash mob during the party
and they did a video of our story. It was so emotional to see that
they put so much love and thoughts into it.

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION: I used Pinterest a lot and read numerous blogs. I also
followed all my favourite blogs on Instagram and
I would use pictures as my inspiration.

A MEMORABLE MOMENT: We did a three days celebration and
the whole thing was just a dream. Having so many people we love
together to celebrate our love in this stunning city that means so
much to us was surreal. But if I had to pick a moment I would say
the whole ceremony. It is a bit of blur but the both of us never
experienced anything quite like it. It was so beautiful to

ONE THING I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I STARTED MY WEDDING
PLANS: The only small regret I have about the whole day was
that we did not have enough time to take pictures with guests and
family. I wish I got ready a bit earlier and allowed longer time
for pictures at the end of the ceremony.

IF I COULD GIVE OTHER BRIDES TO BE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE:
Honestly I would say don’t sweat the small things. It is so
easy to get caught up in little details but at the end of the day
remember why you are doing it.Stay calm and remember you are
celebrating YOUR love, don’t let anyone else tell you what
you should do; it is all about you and your fiancé and what
you want. And the most important thing: enjoy every single moment
of the planning, it really goes by so fast! Oh yes also if your
budget allows it hire a planner, it will change your planning
process.